Marina and the Diamonds paints biting, beautiful sonic portraits on 'Froot'

Sometimes it takes a darling starlet a few walks around the block before she finds her precious footing, and only after she’s spent time wobbling down Sunset Boulevard in her cotton-candy-pink jelly-sandal high heels can her gait transform to a confident strut. Marina and the Diamonds, that '80s girl-band throwback with a modern revamp, has found that exact perfect footing on “Froot,” released March 16. Marina Diamandis, better known under her moniker-but-not-really-moniker Marina and the Diamonds, has traded her face hearts for coiffed hair with neon highlights brighter than one of Richard Simmons’ '80s leotards.

To approximate the formula for Marina 2.0 -- the better, brighter, crasser and rawer version --  take two parts early Katy Perry on that golden forgotten relic “One of the Boys”(2008), one part early Lana from “Born to Die: Deluxe Edition” (2012) and three parts Blondie (1998's “Once More into the Bleach” is a perfect match, but really anything before 1996 will do). And voila! You have Marina in her prime: right this damn second, angry but too pretty to let out all her unbridled emotion in one fell swoop, preferring instead to ooze it out over 12 tracks and 53 minutes of pop joy.

The album showcases Diamandis’ unique, drawn-out, highly-stressed syllabic way of singing that punctuated her first album; it's this unique style that separates the singer’s husky voice from the voices of autotuned, one-hit wonder Barbie Dolls. While self-mocking, on "Froot" Diamandis sounds more like Heart than “Valley of the Dolls” (1967). This album is strong, with a poetic and attention-grabbing depth that kicks it just two inches shy of easily-digestible Ariana Grande hit territory, forcing it into a realm of vocal bravado that demands focus. While “Electra Heart” (2012) sometimes played like the background music for Dance Dance Revolution, “Froot” does not allow its frilliness to be confused with frivolity -- its bells and whistles are decorum for the real show-stoppers, not the main attraction.

The album is lush, in colors fleshed out in full saturation, with no dose of glitter or glitz spared for her bitter and cutting lyrics. On the album’s title track she sings, “I'm your carnal flower, I'm your bloody rose / Pick my petals off and make my heart explode” while background  vocals chime a “La la la” chorus and a synth beat plays -- sounds fit for a video game soundtrack. The combination is cruel and phenomenal. Marina and the Diamonds do not do subtle, but the exaggerated sentimentality of Diamandis' lyrics complement the songs' extreme instrumentation, producing an album that is both bubblegum and operatic in its themes. “I was born to walk alone” sings Diamandis on “Forget.” And while “Solitaire” features electric keyboard and upbeat instrumentation, the melancholy vocals set the tone: “I’m obsessed with silence.” Her voice is so intense that morose lyrics veer into melodrama, but the singer embraces this glamorous-siren-at-the-breaking-point image.

Diamandis is, admittedly, blunter than her contemporaries, but she is also more lacquered and polished.  Imagine a modern Betty Boop blowing a kiss to the camera while simultaneously flipping them off. On “Froot” as a whole, Diamandis plays again with gender stereotypes, addressing issues of gender conformity, gender roles and gendered expectations in the music industry. Ricocheting between upfront sexiness and outright fury, she doesn’t walk the line between showcasing her sex appeal and showcasing her intelligence -- she straddles it, one foot firmly planted on either side, allowing every inch of sarcasm and sultriness to bleed out in equal measure.

Still, the album falters at points. “Froot,” like the fictionalized pill-popping starlet whose life was the focus of “Electra Heart,” falls into Diamandis’ old musical habits easily. “I’m bored of everything we do” sings Diamandis on “Blue,” one of the album’s more synth-laden electro bubblegum-pop-in-your-face tracks. It’s sweet to the point of saccharinity, and while the track sings of depression (hence “Blue”) in a hilariously over-the-top shallow way, it also drones on for a while with the same robotic synth overlay that monopolized her first album. On this album, the track “Gold” blends a little bit too much into “Blue” and a bit too much into “Forget.”

In contrast, one of the album’s best tracks, “Can’t Pin Me Down,” sums up the essence of “Froot” altogether. The track opens with a sickly snare drum and rock-tinged vocals from Diamandis, creating a tone that feels more Lily Allen than Joan Jett, but tough girl badass all the same: “I'm never gonna give you anything that you expect / You think I'm like the others? You need to get your eyes checked.”

Making a leap forward in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, Diamandis finally lives up to that powerful potential delivered on 2012’s hit single “How to Be a Heartbreaker.” Marina and the Diamonds isn't holding back, and listeners will leave "Froot" in a shiny, bruised and beautiful messy state.